>>54700066The contribution made by American capitalism to German war preparations before 1940
can only be described as phenomenal. It was certainly crucial to German military
capabilities. For instance, in 1934 Germany produced domestically only 300,000 tons of
natural petroleum products and less than 800,000 tons of synthetic gasoline; the balance
was imported. Yet, ten years later in World War II, after transfer of the Standard Oil of New
Jersey hydrogenation patents and technology to I. G. Farben (used to produce synthetic
gasoline from coal), Germany produced about 6 1/2 million tons of oil — of which 85
percent (5 1/2 million tons) was synthetic oil using the Standard Oil hydrogenation process.
Moreover, the control of synthetic oil output in Germany was held by the I. G. Farben
subsidiary, Braunkohle-Benzin A. G., and this Farben cartel itself was created in 1926 with
Wall Street financial assistance.
